Compassion In Kenya

Safe World Field Partner in Kenya - Compassion CBO, was formed to eradicate poverty through education and sustainable development among women living in the slums and rural areas and to rehabilitate orphans and vulnerable children.

Field Partner News

COFAPRI organised handwashing sessions for school children and mothers in rural villages, with the aid of educational DVDs kindly supplied by Thare Machi Education. The word has begun to spread as neighbours are now prompting each other to wash their hands.

Increased security helps women become self-reliant and less financially dependent on their husbands. This improves the situation for the whole family and also means the women are less vulnerable to abuse.

It remains very important within communities for men and boys to be educated regarding the rights of women and girls, including their proper, fair and respectful treatment. When the women and girls become empowered, it is the whole community that benefits.

In most parts of our society, the word “Feminism” still remains a bitter pill for so many people to swallow, however, to Wfac’s college SRHR Peer educators, the ‘F’ word is about change, empowerment of all and transforming lives.

Perhaps the most inspiring session for me came towards the end of the two days and was entitled ‘Bring back our girls – the forgotten victims of conflict’... We heard the CEO of International Alert, Harriet Lamb, and Victoria Nyanjura - who was kidnapped by…

Once upon a time in my country, Nigeria, there was a ruler who was dreaded by many... We resisted and said No to every oppressive action or word to any weak or voiceless Nigerian... This is the time to stand firm on what has held the world together - Love.

All the most prominent, biggest community and feminist movements to alleviate the sufferings of women and girls and support women’s involvement in education and leadership have been championed mostly by women...

I cannot ever vote for anyone who promotes misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, zenophobia, homophobia... It would be a mockery of my life... dishonoring my elders who have endured the many injustices of racial animosity, my friends who've experienced the same...

“Women United for a Better Community” is a new group of grassroots women in the Ayacucho Region at the South High Andean of Peru, recently created by Estrategia, a National Grassroots women's organization. The grassroots women require to be heard and get the…

On September 28th 2016 an Iranian appeals court upheld a 16-year sentence for 44 year old Narges Mohammadi, a prominent human rights defender. Mrs. Mohammadi is a key member of the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in Iran, a lawyer by training,…

Taking it to the Streets: Egyptian women in protest

Taking it to the Streets:

Egyptian Women Protest the Government Alongside the Men Yet Few Images of Women

As I’m sure you all know, Egypt has erupted in a civil uprising. The largest anti-government protest in Egypt in 30 years, civilians are protesting President Mubarak’s regime, calling for his resignation. People have poured into the streets demonstrating, incited by skyrocketing inflation and severe lack of jobs. The world is watching, waiting to see how events unfold. I’ve been scouring the live updates on Mother Jones’ website (a phenomenal source of information to get you up to speed on the protests) and glued to the live stream of Al Jazeera English, the Arabic language news network. While I’ve been watching for the past few days, almost all of the images have been of men in protest. I’ve been wondering, where are the women?

“An unprecedented number of Egyptian women participated in Tuesday’s anti-government protests. Ghada Shahbandar, an activist with the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, estimated the crowd downtown to be 20 percent female. Other estimates were as high as 50 percent. In past protests, the female presence would rarely rise to 10 percent.”

So if 20-50% of women are protesting, why aren’t we seeing that reflected in the images shown on the news websites and networks? Where the hell are those images??.

What accounts for the high number of women getting involved? Krajeski writes,

“The Facebook-initiated groups are unaffiliated with a major opposition group. These protests also seemed safer. Organizers urged those attending to make it a peaceful one, and this became a rallying cry in some areas of the city on Tuesday. Moreover, Egypt’s educated youth, men and women, were fed up with a government that had not changed at all in most of their lifetimes, and which cuts even the educated off from any opportunity. And then there was Tunisia. Suddenly, attending the protest seemed not only worth the risk, but capable of inciting real change.”

“Martha Radditz and Christiane Amanpour talking about Egypt with Diane Sawyer on ABC–three women talking about a serious international news story, no men in the room–ten years ago that wouldn’t have happened.”

While policy makers enact laws and treaties, political pundits and reporters shape public opinion. It’s crucial to have women in that conversation, just as it’s important to have people of color weigh in. It’s also important that we try to hear as much as possible from Egyptians and Arabs themselves; one of the reasons I prefer to watch Al Jazeera.

People often overlook women in protests or wars, as if they are absent or invisible. Yet women protest, and sometimes fight in combat, alongside men. In many conflicts (and in post-conflict countries too), rape against women is often utilized as a “weapon of war.” But we rarely hear those stories on the nightly news. In the Iranian Revolution in 2009, many women protested, including of course the young woman Neda who was shot and killed as she was on her way to a demonstration, becoming a martyr for anti-government opposition. The protests in Egypt are also not without peril. According to Bikya Masr,

“In the past 24 hours at least 100 Egyptians have been reported to have been killed across the country. The rising death toll is not expected to remain stagnant as more reports are coming in. At least 1000 people, and possibly more, have been injured in the five days of demonstrations that began on January 25.”

Protests have not just arisen in Cairo but throughout cities and towns in Egypt. Al Jazeera, reporting on protests in Alexandria on 1/30 at 12:18pm EST, said that women in the city of Alexandria were headed to the streets, participating in the protests. Interestingly, many of the banners and signs were written in English, not just addressing Mubarak’s regime but also foreign press and Western leaders. Today, Al Jazeera showed images of protesters, many including women.

“Women and girls are, beside the boys, are in the streets. We are calling for justice, freedom and equality, and real democracy, and a new constitution where there is no discrimination between men and women, no discrimination between Muslim and Christians, to change the system and to have real democracy.”

Night after night, women and men have defied the government imposed curfew in Cairo, gathering in Tahrir Square, aka Liberation Square.

A “Million Person March” towards the presidential palace is planned for tomorrow and a nationwide strike planned for Wednesday. Egyptian civilians say they won’t stop protesting until President Mubarak steps down from office. And women in Egypt will be advocating for justice too. But when the media doesn’t show images of women involved, it appears as if they aren’t entrenched in rallying revolutions; they are written out of history. Women don’t merely sit on the sidelines, having their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons wage battle for them. Women confront corruption, fighting for freedom for their country and themselves.

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With thanks to Megan Kearns for kind permission to reproduce this article.